MiaoYan vs SoloMD
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MiaoYan
A calm Markdown editor for notes, ideas, and documents. Write in plain text, organize with folders, and access your files across devices via iCloud Drive. Enjoy a clean reading experience with customizable typography.
- Read and edit Markdown notes
- Organize notes by folders
- Use your own iCloud Drive folder
- Clean typography for reading
- Search and open notes quickly
- No account required
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MiaoYan is a calm Markdown editor for notes, ideas, documents, and everyday writing. Write in plain Markdown, read with clean typography, and keep your notes organized in folders. MiaoYan works with your own files, so your notes stay portable and easy to manage. Designed for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, MiaoYan lets you use the same Markdown folder across devices through iCloud Drive. Features: • Read and edit Markdown notes • Browse notes with previews, dates, and file sizes • Organize notes by folders • Use your own iCloud Drive folder • View images, quotes, lists, code, and structured notes • Adjust reading font size • Search and open notes quickly • No account required MiaoYan is built for people who prefer simple files, focused writing, and a quiet reading experience.
SoloMD
A distraction-free Markdown editor for iPad, focusing on writing with live preview, rich syntax, and export options. Your notes are stored locally as plain text files.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Live Markdown preview
- KaTeX math and Mermaid diagram support
- Multiple export formats (HTML, PDF, DOCX)
- File tree and outline view
- Focus and typewriter modes
- Split-view and multitasking support
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SoloMD is a lightweight, distraction-free Markdown editor for iPad. One file. One window. Just write. Built from the ground up as a focused writing tool - no account, no cloud, no telemetry, no subscription. Your notes stay in plain .md and .txt files on your iPad, readable by any editor on any platform, today and in ten years. CORE EDITING - Live preview - Markdown symbols fade out after the cursor leaves the line. - Rich syntax styling - real big headings, real bold, real monospace for code. - Light and Dark themes that follow iPad system appearance. - Multi-encoding - auto-detects UTF-8, UTF-16, GBK, Big5. - Tabs with dirty indicators. - File tree sidebar, outline view, and global search. MARKDOWN POWER - KaTeX math - inline and block math render instantly. - Mermaid diagrams - flowcharts, sequence diagrams, Gantt charts. - Task lists with clickable checkboxes. - Footnotes, YAML front-matter, text highlighting. - Syntax highlighting for 13 plus languages. - Synced split-pane scroll. - Tap an image or Mermaid diagram to open a pinch-zoomable overlay. BUILT FOR IPAD - 44 pt touch targets across toolbar, outline, and file tree. - Larger default font sizes tuned for iPad screen distance. - Split-view and multitasking friendly. - Works with hardware keyboards. - Portrait and landscape, every orientation. WRITER TOOLS - Focus mode - non-current paragraphs dim for deep work. - Typewriter mode. - Session restore - auto-saves so you never lose a line. - Chinese power tools - simplified/traditional conversion, pinyin, CJK word counts. - Spell check. - Custom CSS. EXPORT - HTML (newsletter quality) - PDF with KaTeX and Mermaid baked in - Word (.docx) with tables preserved - Copy as HTML, plain text, or Markdown PRIVACY FIRST SoloMD collects no personal data. No account. No analytics. No ads. No tracking. All your notes live locally in files you own. SoloMD is open source (MIT). Source: github.com/zhitongblog/solomd
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: SoloMD at Free against MiaoYan's $14.99. SoloMD also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
SoloMD is free to download; MiaoYan costs $14.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
MiaoYan ships an update every 2 months, SoloMD weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | MiaoYan | SoloMD |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $14.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | — | 1.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | 威 汤 | 向东 李 |
Customer experience
MiaoYan
SoloMD
In-app purchases
MiaoYan
No in-app purchases
SoloMD
No in-app purchases









